Frozen Gold - Ice on Jökulsárlón Beach

Perform an online search for Iceland and you're guaranteed to see images of glacial lakes and glass-like icebergs washed up on black sandy beaches. What you'll be looking at is Iceland's Diamond Beach, where the vast calved ice blocks float down from the glacial edge through the Jökulsárlón lagoon and out into the North Atlantic Ocean. The tidal cycles then wash the blocks of ice up onto the sands, leaving them to glisten like crystals upon the black volcanic sand before they disintegrate.

During my 2017 Iceland tour, I spent many hours on the beach near Jökulsárlón. For someone who has spent much of their life in warmer climates, encountering icebergs for the first time and being able to touch and feel their surprisingly rough texture is a truly memorable and humbling experience.

Probably my biggest tip to anyone planning a trip to Jökulsárlón is to take a good set of waders or something that allows you to stand in knee-deep cold water, allowing you to get closer to many of the ice blocks. You'll leave other photographers in trainers far behind you. Watch out for the rogue waves though; they can be brutal and fast.